Everything Changes
by ChinamiMorimoto
Summary: Junior has a not quite fight with her mother that fuels in her a need to know the truth behind her parents' divorce. The only person she thinks might tell her is her father's best friend, so she gives him a call. From there, everything changes.
1. Chapter 1

Junior stood in the kitchen helping her mother clean up from dinner. A thought crossed her mind and she voiced it. "Hey, Mama? You think Daddy's ever gonna remarry?"

Alma paused in washing a plate , then resumed slowly. "No, I don't think so. I asked him once an' he said, you know, once burned."

Junior closed the cabinet she'd been putting glasses in. "That's too bad."

Alma looked at her daughter. "Why? D'you want a stepmother?" She didn't sound accusing, just incredulous.

"No, that's not what I mean." Junior faced her mother. "It's just, you've got Bill and"—she shrugged and shook her head—"I don't like to think a Daddy bein' alone."

Alma turned back to the sink a little too quickly for the motion to be entirely natural. "I don't think you need to be worryin' about that."

Junior blinked, not oblivious to her mother's slightly odd behavior and tone. She shifted her weight more to one foot. "Mama?"

"You just don't need to worry about that, Junior."

"Mama, if you mean that blonde woman he was seein', I don't think there's anything to that anymore."

"I'm not sure I know he was seeing any blonde woman." Alma shut the water off with ore vigor than was strictly necessary. "And it doesn't matter if he has been or is or is not. You don't need to worry about him being alone."

Something in her mother's voice caught Junior's attention: not quite an edge—a dulled edge maybe, or the memory, like a scar, of an edge that had once been sharp, but now was worn down. It sounded to Junior like it had been an edge of resentment. She stood there a long moment, watching her mother dry dishes, thinking: what could have hurt her mother? What might her mother have resented, but was now long enough passed for her to pretend to have forgotten? After the long moment was gone and she'd thought of no specific answer, Junior quietly asked, "What aren't you saying?"

"What are you talking about?"

"There's somethin' you're not sayin' here, somethin' you ain't happy about. I can tell, Mama." When her mother said nothing, Junior chewed her lip and, before she could think better of it, asked after the one thing she had thought of that might have bothered Alma the way she seemed bothered, even though Junior didn't see how it could be right. "Did Daddy cheat?"

"What?" Alma whirled to face her daughter. "Junior what are you—?"

"I want to know the truth. I want to know why I shouldn't worry about my Daddy being alone. Has he got some secret girlfriend? And I wanna know what happened anyway! All I've ever been told is 'oh, well, things just didn't work out.' But I remember you crying and Daddy yelling, and I knew I wasn't being told half of the truth and I know the same thing now." She took a deep breath. "I worry about Daddy and the way you're telling me not to _isn't_ helping."

"Junior!" Junior looked away. Her mother sighed. "We didn't tell you things because you were much too young and, really, it comes down to things just didn't work out."

"Well, what about now? Why shouldn't I worry about Daddy? I'm old enough to know my father isn't a super hero, he has faults just like everybody. _Did_ he cheat? _Has_ he got a secret girlfriend?"

" He hasn't got a secret girlfriend. Now drop it."

Junior crossed her arms. "I notice you're not sayin' he didn't cheat."

"I said drop it."

"I want to know!"

"You don't need to know!"

"By that logic, I might as well stop going to school."

"Junior."

"Well? I just wanna know a little bit of the truth. From this conversation so far, I'm pretty well convinced that he probably did cheat. I'm not mad if he did, even if maybe I should be. I don't know. But I also can't think how that can be true. He only ever went to work or went fishing. He never had any friends, really, so he couldn't a been fooling around with some friend a his's wife. The one friend I remember him having, he an' his family are down in Texas. I don't think Daddy ever even met _his_ wife."

Alma tossed her hair in frustration. "Maybe he didn't need nobody's wife to fool around with."

"What's that mean?"

Alma shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"Mama."

"Listen," Alma put her hands on her daughter's shoulders and took a deep breath, "you're right. There is something I'm not saying and it's not just that I don't want to. I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Junior met her mother's eyes.

Alma bit her lip. "It's not my secret."

"What d'you—"

Alma turned back to the last of the dishes. "This conversation is over."

Junior hesitated, then said, "Fine," and marched off to her room ignoring the looks cast her way by her sister, stepfather, and young half-brother.

**A/N: ****Woot! New story! Actually, I've been writing this for months but, since I write by hand and haven't much time to type, I just haven't posted any yet.**

**At this point in the story, everything is exactly as it was in the canon a few months before the end, but this little not quite fight between mother and daughter changes everything.**

**Let me know what you think in a review!**

**Happy fic-ing.**


	2. Chapter 2

Junior flopped face down on her bed and mumbled into her pillow. "What the hell does that mean, 'not my secret?'"

She rolled over and stared at the ceiling. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she felt like she had to know. It was definitely in part because she did worry about her father being alone, but there was more to it than that.

Her mother wouldn't tell her, that was clear. Asking her father was probably a bad idea. Junior rolled onto her side to stare at the bookshelf on the opposite wall. On one of the lower shelves, the shelf that was currently at her eye level, there was a small wooden box, painted pink. She smiled a little to herself. Her father had helped her make that box when she was six. It had been her treasure box ever since, where she kept shiny rocks, cheap toy rings, plastic bugs, great big acorns, tiny pine cones, anything that struck her as special. She wasn't sure when she'd last opened it. Something occurred to her and she got up, pulled the box off the shelf, dusted the top with her sleeve, and sat down with it on her lap. After a moment of near-religious reverence, she opened it.

And there was the thing she had remembered: a postcard taped carefully to the underside of the lid. She had pulled it out of the trash because she liked the picture, an Appaloosa mare rearing in the middle of a field of wild yellow daisies.

Carefully, she pulled the tape off the yellowing card stock and flipped it over. The message, written in handwriting she didn't know confirming plans for some fishing trip now years passed, didn't matter. It was the return address she wanted.

Jack C. Twist  
700 Ave. I S.E.  
Childress, TX

She grinned. That was his name, Jack Twist. The one friend she could remember her father every really having, his best friend, the only other person she could think of that might know something that would satisfy her need for the truth.

* * *

The next morning, after having shooed Jenny off to her own classroom, Junior went into her first class of the day and sat next to her friend, Lori, who was idly rolling her plastic bracelet back and forth across the desk.

"Hey Lori."

"Hey Junior." Lori barely paused in her bracelet rolling.

"You have cousins in Texas, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Have you got a Texas phone book at home?

"Yeah." Lori put her bracelet back on and sat up to look at Junior. "Why?"

"Could I swing by your place after school and borrow it?"

"Sure but, seriously, why?"

"I just need to call somebody in Texas."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "Any random person in Texas or somebody in particular?"

Junior rolled her eyes. "Somebody in particular."

"Alright... Sounds sketchy but that's fine." She pointed a highlighter at Junior. "If you're doin' anything that turns out like a soap opera, you have to tell me."

"We'll see. Put that thing away."

Lori shrugged and started drawing on her hand.

It was just starting to rain when Junior and Lori got to Lori's house and the two girls ran the last few feet across the yard to the shelter of the porch. They dropped their book bags by the door and went to sit on the living room floor. Lori pulled a fat phone book from the shelf set into the bottom of the end table beside the couch and handed it to her friend. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Junior settled with the book on her lap and flipped it open. She thumbed through it until she found the listings for Childress and then, at the very end of the T's, the listings for Twist. There were three. One of them was a pretzel shop. Of the two that were left, one was a Jonathon and the other was a woman. "Hey, Jack can be short for Jonathon, right?"

Lori nodded. "Yeah."

"You got a note card?"

"Mhm, here."

Junior took the card, scribbled down the number, put the book back, thanked her friend, dug the collapsible umbrella out of her bag, then headed home.

**A/N: ****Okay, chapter two. Isn't it lucky Junior liked that picture? Yeah, things are about to get interesting. **

**Let me know what you think in a review!**

**Also, because all the characters I write live in my head, if you have something you wish you could say or ask one of them, put that in a review too. They might just answer you.**

**Happy fic-ing!**


	3. Chapter 3

Jenny walked up behind her sister, who had pulled the cushions off the couch, hunting for something. "What are you doing?"

Junior stood up straight. "Looking for change.'"

Jenny replaced the cushions and sat. Their mother was with their little brother on a school field trip and Bill was still at work, so the girls had the house to themselves. "If you're looking for change, either you got plans to go tot he arcade, or you got a phone call to make you don't wanna show up on the phone bill.

"One of the two. You still got that jar of quarters in your closet?"

Jenny crossed her arms and looked up at her sister. "Yeah."

Junior pulled her wallet out of her jeans pocket and waved three one dollar bills in front of her sister. "Two for quarters, one to keep your mouth shut."

Jenny narrowed her eyes then snatched the money. "Deal."

It wasn't until that Saturday, walking home from babysitting most of the morning, that Junior got a chance to go to a payphone without being missed. She spent a while just standing in front of the phone with the note card she'd written Jack's number on in one hand and the other fist full of coins. Finally, she picked up the receiver, put in a dime, and dialed while reading the number aloud to herself. "Nine, four, zero..."

She put the additional needed coins in the slot and waited as it rang, once, twice, three times, and again before someone picked up.

"Hello?" The man who answered the phone had a definite, but not major, Texas twang to what had once been a Wyoming accent.

Junior took a deep breath. "Hi, um, I'm looking for a Mr. Jack Twist."

"Speaking." Standing in Lureen's office, Jack sat on the edge of her desk, which she hated, but she wasn't home so it didn't matter.

"D'you know Ennis Del Mar?"

"Yes, I do." Jack felt his heart skip, suddenly anxious.

"Well, this is his daughter."

"Which one?"

"Junior." She curled her fingers nervously in the phone cord.

"Why're you callin'? Is somethin' wrong? Somethin' happen to Ennis?"

"Oh, no, no, everything's okay. Far as I know, the worst thing that's happened to my daddy in the past month is he got attacked by a rabbit. So, he's fine."

Jack grinned. "Rabbits _can_ hurt you, but that's too funny for me to be too worried."

"Yeah." Junior smiled. Jack sounded nice.

"So, why are you calling?"

"Well, uh," she swallowed, "I've got a question or something I wanna know, that my mama won't tell me and I don't think it'd be smart to ask my daddy and you're the only other person I can think of who might know 'cause you're my daddy's best friend, and I have this old postcard you sent to my daddy that I kept when I was little 'cause I liked the picture so I had your name and address and a friend a mine's got folks in Dallas, so she's got a Dallas/Fort Worth phone book at home, so I found your number, and yeah."

"Whoa. Breathe, sweetheart." Jack crossed his ankles. "Whadaya mean there's something you wanna know you don't think you should ask your dad and your mama won't tell you? 'Cause I can't think a anything I might know that you'd be askin' after."

Junior sighed and leaned against the side of the phone box. "I asked my mama if she thought my daddy'd ever remarry and the conversation just turned weird. I could tell there was something she wasn't saying that she both did and really didn't want to say. From what she _was_ sayin', it sounded like my daddy cheated on her, but he didn't cheat _with_ anybody—which is impossible. Unless you're cheating with somebody, you aren't cheating, that's just kinda how it works. 'Sides, I can't think of a single woman he coulda fooled around with an' the only place he went other that work was fishin' with you. When I asked more, she said it's not her secret and that just seems weird to me."

Jack chewed his lip a second. "What exactly are you askin', then?"

"Really, I just wanna know the truth. I worry about my daddy being alone. He's had it hard so much of his life, ever since he was a kid. I also wanna know the truth 'cause I haven't ever been told anything about what happened between my parents."

"I can understand that."

"One way or another, I won't be mad." She shrugged even though he couldn't see her. "Why bother? It's all over by now, Mama's remarried, I've got a half brother. I don't think it'd really be my place to be mad anyway. Who knows? Also, when it comes to affairs of the heart, nobody has much control over anything and people do stupid stuff. I know that from stuff I've read for school and I see it in my friends. And, no offense, but guys seem to do stupider stuff than girls do."

"Oh, you're not wrong, but did you have an example in mind?"

"Trying to impress a girl he likes, guy I know jumped off a roof. Broke his ankle."

Jack winced. "That is stupid. Was she impressed?"

"No." Junior paused. "But, being on crutches for months did earn him pity points."

Jack chuckled. "That's somethin'."

"Yeah." Junior half laughed. "But the stuff with my daddy, I understand if you don't want to tell me, or if you don't know."

"No, I—I know. I definitely know." Jack drummed his fingers on the desktop. "An' yer right, I am the only other person who'd know."

"Well, I understand if you'd rather not tell me, but I would like to know."

Jack sighed. "I'm gonna need to think about it."

"Alright, that figures."

"Is there a time I could call you back? Maybe in a few days?"

"I'm on a payphone, so let's see, uh..." She thought a moment. "I could be here Wednesday after school, say, between 2:30 and 3:00."

"Can you read me off the number for the pay phone?"

"Oh, yeah."

Jack grabbed a bit of paper and a pen off the desk and wrote down what she told him. "Okay, I'll call you."

"Thank you. I'm sorry if I interrupted you doin' anything."

"Naw, my wife's shopping with her mother in Dallas and my son's out with friends."

"I'm glad." Junior smiled. "I should probably head home now."

"Alright, you take care."

"'Kay. Bye."

"Goodbye."

Junior hung up, leaned her head against the phone for a moment, then made for home.

Nine hundred miles away, Jack put the phone back in its cradle and shook his head. "Well, shit."

**A/N: ****Now things are starting to move along. For the record, 940 really is the area code for Childress, Texas. The address I gave last chapter for Jack is really a house in an upscale part of Childress. I admit to having a perfectionist streak and I drive myself crazy looking up things like that on the off chance that somebody out there cares.**

**Anyway, as always, if you have anything to say or ask me (or a character if you so choose), put it in a review.**

**Happy fic-ing.**


	4. Chapter 4

Sitting in the last class of the day on Wednesday, Junior was rather distracted. Lori studiously tattooing herself with a pen wasn't helping. The final bell rang and Junior swept her things into her bag, went to what she was beginning to think of as her payphone, put her bag down on the concrete, and settled in to wait.

It wasn't long before the phone rang and Junior jumped to answer it. "Hello?'

"Hey, Junior."

Junior smiled, relieved. She had been worried he wouldn't call. "Hey, Mr. Twist."

"Oh, don't call me that; let's just stick with Jack."

"Okay. So, uh..."

"Yeah. You doin' alright?"

"Mhm. You?"

"I'm doin' just fine."

"That's good." There was a fairly long pause. "So," Junior said quietly, "are you going to tell me?"

Jack pressed his knuckles to his forehead and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I am. But not now. Not over the phone."

"Then when?"

"I can drive up not this coming weekend but the next, if that'd work for you."

"Yeah. That ought to work. I know somewhere that'd be good to meet."

"Yeah?" Having heard a car door, Jack looked out the window to see that it was just the neighbors' spoiled brat coming home in her purple convertible. He was technically home for lunch. "Where?"

"Just outside of town, there's this combination rest stop/fairground/go-cart track/park."

Jack whistled. "That is quite the mix, but sounds nice. Nobody knows you're talking to me, do they?"

"No, my mama'd be upset, I think, so I don't want anybody who might tell her to know. But I'm seventeen. In less than a year, I'll be an adult. I can drive. I think I ought to be at liberty to do my own thing."

"I'm in no position to agree with that. And given the nature of what I've got to tell you, it's probably best we be out of the way."

"I figured." There was another pause. "So, see you next weekend I guess."

"Yeah. Man, it's been years since I've seen you or your sister."

"That's right, I remember. Not long after the divorce, you came to see my daddy when he was about to go someplace with us. Bad timing."

Jack smiled. It had hurt then but it was funny now. "Yeah. I probably shoulda called but, you know, I've tried to call your daddy a few times. He never picks up and he hasn't got an answering machine."

"I know. It's weird to think, you an' my daddy've been friends long as I can remember, but I've only seen you once."

"Twice. You were about two the first tie so I'm not surprised you don't remember."

"Oh, wow, yeah, I didn't know that."

"You looked just like your daddy. 'Specially your hair."

"It was like his back then, curly and blond. Jenny's still is but mine's turned like my mama's."

"I'm sure it's pretty."

"Well, thank you."

"You're welcome, Junior. Now I gotta go back to work."

"Mkay. See you."

"See you."

They each hung up.


	5. Chapter 5

Something in the back of Jack's mind told him he was crazy as he packed for the drive to Riverton. Something else told him he was doing the right thing.

Lureen leaned against the door frame between the bedroom and adjoining bathroom, painting her nails pink. "So where is it you're goin'?"

"Up to Wyoming."

"Goin' camping with that Del Mar fellow again?"

"Not this time. Getting' back in touch with somebody I haven't seen in some eight, nine years."

"Oh, well, that's nice."

"Yeah."

"Shame you're gonna miss the church picnic."

Jack shrugged. "It's too bad, but this is the only weekend that'd work."

"Well"—she walked over and carefully kissed him on the cheek—"you have a good time. And be careful. You know I don't like you goin' on these long drives by yourself."

"I'll be fine, Lureen."

"Oh, I know. You always are. But I still worry."

Jack shook his head.

* * *

Another good thing about the fairground was, when Junior asked to borrow the car to go there, nobody asked questions. She thought about this as she sat on the back bumper of the little yellow car in the parking lot, waiting. She had no clue when Jack might get there so she'd been there since morning. The staff seemed to be starting to question her sanity.

She was watching a bird pick at french fries on the ground when a red and cream pickup growled into the lot and parked. The driver stepped out and Junior knew at once it was Jack—he looked just like he had when she had seen him that one time years ago. She smiled and trotted over to him. "Hi, Jack."

"Hey, Junior." Much to her surprise, he hugged her then held her at arm's length. "Except for the hair, you still look like Ennis."

She grinned. "Is that a good thing?"

"I'd say so." He smiled and looked across the parking lot to where there was a concession stand near the go-cart track. "Is it safe to eat here?"

"Yeah. It's pretty good."

"Then, if you don't mind."

"Oh, go right ahead."

He started casually toward the stand with Junior very nearly in step beside him.

"You want somethin'?"

Junior shook her head. "I really don't have much money on me."

"I do."

"Oh, no, you don't have to—I couldn't—it's okay—"

Jack stopped walking. "Are you hungry?"

She hesitated. "A little."

"Let me get you something."

"Okay."

As they sat on a bench away from the handful of other people around, each with a cheeseburger in hand, Junior shook her head. "You are too nice."

He looked at her. "I bought my best friend's daughter a cheeseburger."

"That's still nice."

He chuckled and took a bite. She rolled her eyes.

When the hamburgers were gone, Junior went to toss the wrappers in the nearest trashcan—which she did from nearly six feet away—then went to sit back down.

"Good shot."

"Thanks." She smiled then looked down and laced her fingers together. "So..."

Jack sighed and leaned against the back of the bench. "Right. Why I'm here." He sat up straight again. "Before I tell you, I'm gonna tell you why I've decided to tell you."

She looked at hi and nodded once. "Alright."

"To start with, I can tell you really do worry about your dad and that is a large part of why you want to know. Also, you're nearly old enough to have a say in who the President is, so I figure you're old enough to be told the truth and handle what you hear. And you are smart and closer than I think you realize to figuring it out on your own. No, I don't think this is something' you ought to figure out. Just by its nature, it's better you be told by somebody who knows. I also think it's for the better that you not end up hearing it from your mother first. I didn't know she knew but I know she can't know the whole story and only having part of it changes how it seems. Honestly, I'd really rather not tell you, but I feel like I should. For your sake and everybody's."

Junior nodded again. "Thank you."

Jack took a deep breath. "Your father did cheat. But it's not that simple."

"I'd figured as much."

"Yeah. God, I can't believe I'm having this conversation. Anyway, you said you couldn't think of any woman he might have been with."

"Right."

"Well, there's a reason for that."

"Hm?" Junior frowned.

"He never had a girlfriend or any such."

"But he did cheat?"

"Yes."

"I don't think I understand. 'Cause you can't be sayin' what it sounds like you're sayin'."

"What's it sound like I'm sayin'?"

She let out a perturbed breath and looked around quickly. "It sounds like you're sayin' my daddy's queer."

"No, that's not what I'm sayin'. There has never been any doubt in my mind that your daddy is not queer." He hesitated just a bit. "But that doesn't have to mean he's never been in a relationship with a man." It was hard, but he made himself meet her eyes, which were wide.

She put a hand over her mouth. "Oh my God." She shook her head, shut her eyes, and put her hands on either side of her head. "Oh my God."

**A/N: "****Oh my God" seems like a reasonable reaction to me. Of course, "oh my God" can mean an awful lot of different things...**

**Happy fic-ing.**


	6. Chapter 6

"Junior?" Jack asked softly. "Are you okay?"

"I dunno." She shook her head again. "I never thought my daddy...I mean I know stuff happens like that. Few years ago it was all over the papers, that guy in San Francisco."

"Harvey Milk."

"Yeah. Got elected then got killed. But, oh my God, I just never imagined..." She leaned heavily on Jack's shoulder. "Wow."

He patted her back. "Of course you never thought. Why would you?" She shrugged. "Are you upset?" he asked. "Angry?"

She was quiet a short while. "No. No, I'm not. Just," she shrugged again, "kinda shocked."

"That figures."

"Pardon me but, holy shit."

"You know, that's a good way to put it."

Junior was quiet again, staring across the empty fairground with her head on Jack's shoulder for some time. "Jack?"

"My daddy was really with another guy?"

"Against his better judgment and general nature, yes."

She nodded slowly. "D'you know who it is? The other guy?"

Jack pressed his lips together. "Yeah."

"Can you tell me? Just so I have a name."

Gently, Jack pushed her off his shoulder. "Junior," he said quietly, "it's me."

Her eyes went wide. "Oh my God." She then smacked herself in the forehead. "Of course it's you!" She stood and walked a couple of paces away and then back. "Of course it's you. There's nobody else. I said myself he only ever goes to work and fishing with you." She sat and let her head fall back to stare at the blue dome of the sky a while then said, "Do you love him?"

Jack leaned his elbows on his knees, looking at the dust between his boots. "More than I love my own life."

"And he loves you?"

"I'm pretty sure. Pray so; and I don't pray a lot."

Junior gave him a questioning look. "Has he never told you so?"

Jack shook his head. It was his turn to stare out across the empty fairground. "Ennis is really uncomfortable with the whole thing. So much so he can't bring himself to look me in the eye sometimes. It scares him. He's scared 'cause he can't control it; he's scared folks'll find out and what they'd do if they did. He's scared of a hundred other things I don't even know what they are. So I figure he must love me or he wouldn't still be around."

"That's sad."

"Maybe. But it's how it is."

A couple birds squabbled in a nearby bush. Junior kicked a rock out from under the bench. "How long's this been goin' on with the two a you?"

"Either fifteen or nineteen years, depending on how you wanna count it." Jack pulled a stick of sugarcane out of his pocket to chew on. He didn't like to smoke around kids. "Either since we started going camping or whatever in '67 or since we met in '63."

"Why wouldn't you count from when you met?"

"Didn't see anything of each other for four years after 'til we met back up in '67."

"Oh." Junior put her feet up on the bench, hugged her knees, and rested her chin on them. "How did the two a you meet?"

"D'you know where Brokeback Mountain is?"

Junior thought a moment. "North of Signal?"

"That's the one. In 1963 your daddy and I were both nineteen years old, on our own, dirt poor farm boys who needed cash bad enough to take just about any job we could get. We both wound up herding sheep up on Brokeback for this mean old piece a work named Aguirre. Met in front of Aguirre's office, got each other's names, went an' got a beer at this trashy little bar. Once we were up on the mountain, there was nobody else around. The two of us, couple of mules or donkeys—forget now which—six horses, five dogs, three a which were puppies, a thousand sheep, and more than enough coyotes. No other people. Now, for the first I don't know how many days, he hardly said a word and most of what he did say was cursing." Jack grinned and Junior couldn't help but smile back. "But 'bout two weeks in or so he told me 'bout his folks. Told him that was the most he'd spoke in two weeks. He said it was the most he'd spoke in a year—and I believed him. That was the first time I ever saw him smile and I hoped to God it wouldn't be the last. After that, we talked a good bit whenever we were both in camp or both out with the sheep. Aguirre was insisting one or the other of us sleep out with the sheep every night in this tiny, filthy little spare tent, which was ridiculous and miserable, so there was a lot less time than there should have been where we were both in camp. Anyway, couple of stupid young guys we were, one evening few more weeks into the summer, we decided to share a bottle of whiskey, which we'd done before, but then when the first bottle was gone we decided to share another. That was the stupid part. Now, I dunno if he'd had more but he was much drunker than I was. I was mostly okay but he could barely stand."

"I feel like I shouldn't think that's funny."

"But it is."

"But it is." Junior laughed.

Jack grinned. "Anyway, even in the middle of the summer, up in the mountains, especially above the tree line like we very nearly were, it gets really cold at night. We'd decided nobody was goin' out to the sheep, we were both stayin' in camp, but, instead of sharing what was actually a three person tent, Ennis decides he's gonna curl up with this thin, old spare blanket on the ground outside by the fire. I told him he'd freeze once the fire died down but he ignored me so I went in the tent, tried to sleep. Sure enough, little while later, I hear his teeth start chatterin'. I tell him to get in the tent for Christ's sake and this time he listens. And, well, we were young and drunk, I'd already decided I liked him, it was dark, we were in the same tent, there wasn't another human soul for who knows how many miles. Things happened I am not gonna tell you about,"

Junior burst out laughing. "That is all I need to know about that!"

She kept laughing and he smiled, but as her laughter faded, so did his smile and he looked down again. After a minute he quietly said, "Ennis didn't say a word to me all the next day. And that hurt. But late that evening right 'bout when I was fixin' to turn in for the night, he came into the tent an' kissed me." Jack smiled at the memory. "He was shaking he was so nervous, and I hated that he was nervous. But I was happy. Happier than I think I'd ever been. I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but we kinda neglected the sheep the rest of the summer." He dropped the now thoroughly chewed stick of sugarcane.

"Wow. I didn't know any of that. Even just that he'd worked there that summer."

Jack shrugged.

"This might be rude but, are you queer? Or gay? I think 'gay' is s'posed to be nicer..."

"I don't care what you call it but either way, no. Neither me or your daddy is. He's just an ordinary guy who somehow wound up in this long affair with another man. As for me, I dunno, and I don't care really if there's a word for it or not."

"When y'all go fishin' you don't actually fish, do you?"

"I think we honestly tried to fish once. Didn't go well."

Junior rolled her eyes. "I guess that's all there is then. You told me the truth."

"That I have." He stood and stretched then smiled at her. "Glad I have, too."

She smiled, stood, hesitated, and hugged him. "Thank you for telling me. And," she added more quietly, "thank you for loving my daddy."

"You're welcome. And I don't think I've got much choice." He stepped out of her embrace. "On that note, where's he livin' now? I drove fourteen, fifteen hours here from Texas, might as well see 'im."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. If you got a map, it's easier to show than explain."

"Yeah, I got a map."

"Then I'll show you."

**A/N: ****Now Junior knows the truth. Back of Jack's mind this entire conversation it's probably like: "I cannot believe I'm tellin' her this, I can **_**not**_** believe I'm tellin' her this." Turns out to be a good thing he did...**

**Let me know what you think in a review.**

**Happy fic-ing.**


	7. Chapter 7

Ennis had only just gotten back to his small, paint-peeling shack of a house from checking the livestock for his current employer and was looking glumly around the kitchen for something to eat when he heard a car drive up. He straightened up and tilted his head. "Who the hell?"

He'd not quite made it to the door when whoever it was knocked. Ennis opened the door and just stared a minute. "Jack?"

Jack grinned and shrugged, hands in pockets. "Hey, Ennis."

Ennis stared a moment ore then grabbed Jack by the arm, pulled him inside, kicked the door shut, pushed Jack back against it, knocking his hat off, and kissed him. In an instant, Jack's hands were on Ennis's neck, fingers in his hair.

When they broke apart, Jack said, somewhat breathlessly, "If that's gonna happen every time I show up at your door, I may need to start showin' up more."

Ennis shook his head. "Don't."

"Why not?" Grinning, Jack fixed the collar of Ennis's shirt.

"I'd never get anything done, for one." He picked Jack's hat up. "For another, it's just a bad idea."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, friend."

They sat together on Ennis's old secondhand couch that had come with the house that more or less came with the job.

"Jack, what are you doin' here?"

Jack leaned on Ennis and closed his eyes, happy for his lover's heartbeat. "I was up here anyway, figured I might as well drop by."

"How'd you find where I'm at?"

"Ennis, you've got a Spanish name and yer blond. It don't take a lot a asking around to find you."

Ennis furrowed his brow. "How many folks ya ask?"

"One."

Ennis snorted and ruffled Jack's hair. "You got lucky."

Jack smirked. "Maybe."

"See you shaved the mustache."

"Yeah..." Jack ran a hand over his face. "Might grow it back."

"Don't. It really doesn't work on you."

Jack frowned. "You think?"

"It's not that bad but you look better without it."

"I'll accept that."

They sat together a while without saying much. Jack leaned familiarly against Ennis. "Hope you don't mind if I stay the night; it's too late to drive all the way back too Texas."

Ennis snorted. "If I did mind, I doubt I could make you leave."

Jack grinned and kissed Ennis's cheek. Ennis shoved Jack's shoulder, very nearly pushing him off the couch.

The next morning, Jack shoved his boots on as Ennis dropped their empty bowls in the sink. It was only because Ennis was expected at work that they'd even gotten out of bed. Ennis stretched and something, probably his shoulder, popped. "So, what was it that had you up this way?"

Jack hesitated. "Well, to tell the truth, your daughter called me. Junior."

Ennis gave Jack a dumbfounded look. "What?"

Jack shrugged. "Apparently, when she was little she kept one of the postcards I sent you 'cause she liked the picture so she had my name and address. Looked me up in a Dallas/Fort Worth phone book."

"But, why?" Ennis seemed incredulous.

Jack sighed and shifted to the other side of the couch and looked at Ennis. "She worries about you being alone. And Alma said a couple things that got Junior thinkin' maybe you'd been seein' somebody b'fore the divorce."

"So you come up here to talk to her?"

"Yeah. She didn't wanna talk to you about it and her mother wouldn't talk about it and I didn't wanna talk about it over the phone."

"What did you tell her?"

Jack could tell Ennis was ready to get angry. He met the other man's gaze. "I told her the truth."

"What do you mean you told her the truth?" Ennis's voice dropped to a growl.

"I told her about us, Ennis."

Ennis stood. "Are you out of your goddam mind?"

"No, I'm not." Jack stood too, cursing that Ennis was taller than him. "She was about two steps of logic away from figuring it out herself and God help us if Alma had told her! You know that would not have gone well. Junior's not much younger than we were when this started between us. She wanted to know the truth so I told her and I trust her."

Ennis shook his head. "Get out of my house."

"Ennis!"

"I said get out!"

"Fine!" Jack grabbed his hat off the table on his way to the door, put it on, and turned to look a livid Ennis in the eye. "I love you, you goddam sonofabitch." With that, he walked out into the weak light of the morning, slammed the door behind him, got in his truck and pointed himself home, back of his hand to his mouth, fighting back bitter tears.

**A/N: ****I have been so busy I just haven't been able to post this before now!**

**Ennis really can be a stubborn jerk... Oh well, it helps move the story along.**

**Happy fic-ing.**


	8. Chapter 8

If he weren't so stunned by Jack's confession, there was a good chance Ennis would have followed him out, cursing at his back, Instead, Ennis stood in the middle of the room, fists clenched, fuming, until he had to punch something, namely the wall, which the throbbing in his knuckles quickly told him was stupid. He lit a cigaret and paced the length of the house, blowing angry clouds of smoke. The cigaret died and he lit another. By the time that one died, he'd stopped pacing. Within an hour of Jack having left, Ennis was regretting having sent him away. He huffed, cursed, threw some things in an old duffel bag, scrawled a note on the back of an old sheet of paper and tacked it to his door in case anyone came looking for him, got in his truck, and turned onto the road, headed for Texas for the first time in his life.

Ennis spent most of the drive cursing his truck's tired old engine and praying for about a dozen things of which he knew what maybe three were. He'd hoped to catch Jack somewhere along the way but had no such luck.

A few miles out from Childress with the sun slipping steadily toward the western horizon, Ennis saw two trucks pulled over by the side of the road and he was sure one of them was Jack's. As he got closer, Ennis saw that Jack was out of his truck and in the middle of a fistfight with three men to whom the other truck must have belonged. Jack seemed to be holding his own. Ennis shook his head. "Shit, Jack."

One of the men stepped away from the fight to grab something out of the back of the other truck. Hot fear flashed through Ennis as he realized what it was and he gunned it, to much protest from the engine. He skidded to a halt in the middle of the dirt road, jumped out of his truck almost before it had stopped moving, and threw himself into the fight. He grabbed the tire iron out of its wielder's hand and flung it as far out into the field by the road as he could—but not before it had landed a couple blows, bringing Jack to his knees. Ennis turned with a snarl and a string of profanities and shoved one of the men hard, making him stumble back, fall, and knock his head on the truck the men had come in. The man stayed sitting, dazed, against the door. Jack staggered to his feet and spat blood in the face of one of the two men left standing while Ennis kicked viciously at the back of the other's knee, bringing him down, and stomped on his hand when he tried to get up. Ennis felt bone crack under his boot and the man wailed in pain.

The two men scrambled for their truck and clumsily hauled their concussed companion into the back.

Ennis spat after them. "That's right, ya fuckin' cowards! Run!"

While Ennis shouted, Jack stumbled to his truck, reached through the open window, pulled a snapshot camera out of the glove box, and, with shaking hands, got a couple pictures of the attackers' truck before sinking to the ground.

When the truck was a reassuring distance away, Ennis went worriedly to Jack and knelt. "You alright?"

Jack barely looked up. He was breathing hard. "Do I look alright?"

"No."

He didn't. His lower lip was badly split, he had the makings of a black eye, and a nasty scratch across his brow that went up into his hairline and was bleeding down the side of his face. His shirt and jeans were torn with bloody scrapes glaring through some of the holes. There were other bruises starting to show and he was cradling his left wrist awkwardly.

"Good." Jack pressed the camera to Ennis's chest. "Take pictures. Don't argue, just do it."

Reluctantly, Ennis did as instructed then put the camera aside, pulled Jack into his arms, and held him close, trying to let both their hearts calm. "I thought they were gonna kill you."

"I think they meant to." Jack had his forehead against Ennis's chest, eyes closed. He was trembling. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"C'mere." Ennis pulled Jack's arm around his shoulders, helped him to his feet, and, with some difficulty, got the tailgate down on Jack's truck and sat Jack in the truck bed. With one hand on the less injured side of Jack's face, Ennis told him, "I'ma get my truck outa the road, then we can clean you up."

Jack nodded, Ennis moved his truck and came back with a clean shirt of his own, an old, soft undershirt, and the battered first aid kit that had been rattling around in the back of his truck for years. Carefully, he started to clean the blood off Jack's face. Jack winced, then relaxed and silently let Ennis work.

After a bit, Ennis broke the silence. "You remember what you said 'fore you left my place?"

"That yer a sonofabitch?" Jack barely spoke above a whisper.

"The other bit."

"That I love you?"

"Yeah."

"Mhm."

Ennis carefully undid the buttons on Jack's ruined shirt and had Jack sit up enough for him to get it and his undershirt off. There were ugly bruises flowering across Jack's ribs. Ennis took a breath. "I love you too." He was quiet. "I love you so much."

Jack opened those devastating blue-gray eyes, the faintest of smiles on his torn, bloody lips. "I know." He took Ennis's hand in the one of his own that wasn't throbbing with pain. "I know."

"Oh, Jack..." Ennis looked away, his voice thick with barely restrained tears, one of which rolled rebelliously down his cheek. He took several breaths to regain his composure. "We need to get you to a doctor."

Jack shook his head. "Those men work for my father-in-law and that truck's in his name. I've seen it before. He has _never_ liked me and he is a mean old bastard."

"You think he tried to have you killed?" Ennis's stomach twisted in disgust and rage.

Jack nodded. "That's why the pictures. Police love to have pictures." With a grimace, Jack sat up from leaning against the side of the truck bed and shrugged into Ennis's shirt. "Gimme some aspirin if you got any. I need to have a word with Pa Newsome."

"Not by yourself. No way." Ennis hunted around for the aspirin bottle in the first aid kit and handed a couple to Jack. "For one thing, I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you drive."

"Then come with me." Jack swallowed the pills and gave Ennis a hard look. "I have been hurt this bad, not sure about worse, but I have been hurt this bad and turned out fine. I am talking to my father-in-law."

"Stubborn fool." Ennis shook his head then offered Jack his hand. "Come on, then, I'm not gonna try an' drive your truck."

**A/N: Can I just say that I hated writing this chapter? It hurt. I cried. I do not like hurting Jack. At least I've left him alive. Thank you, Ennis for leaving Wyoming for once in your life and saving your lover's butt.**

**Happy fic-ing.**


	9. Chapter 9

With Ennis on his heels, a borderline livid, death-warmed-over Jack let himself into his father-in-law's office. L.D.'s secretary, Penny, looked at him in horror. "Jack? What happened? Are you—"

He cut her off. "Is L.D. in?"

Penny started to rise from her seat. "I really think you should see a—"

"I asked if L.D. is in," Jack snapped. "I need to speak to him right now."

"Yessir." Penny sank back down in her chair. "He's in. Go right ahead."  
"Thank you." Jack brushed past her desk, Ennis right behind him. They went into the office. Ennis closed and locked the door. L.D. looked shocked to see Jack in his office. His eyes darted from Jack to Ennis and back. He laughed nervously.

"Why, Rodeo, uh—what're you doing here?" L.D. fidgeted with a rhinestone encrusted, gold-plated letter opener. "You look terrible."

"Cut the bullshit, old man." Jack leaned on L.D.'s desk. "I just got beat up. I recognized the men that did it. They work for you. Recognized their truck, too. It's registered in your name. I fucking speak Spanish. Heard the fellas you sent after me mention you."

"I don't think I understand your point." L.D. scowled and kept fiddling with his letter opener.

"I've got pictures of them leaving in your truck."

"What does that—"

"Police love pictures."

L.D. blanched and stood. "Now you look here—"

"Sit down," Ennis growled.

Cautiously, L.D. sat. He tugged at his jacket front and said in a scathing but beaten voice, "You ain't never been good enough for her, you know."

"So you thought you'd have me _killed_?"

A muscle twitched in L.D.'s face and he slammed a hand down on his desk. "You been sleepin' 'round on her!"

"That is still no excuse for murder," Jack said, his voice low and cold. "And I suggest you watch yourself because, even if I'm in no shape to kick your sorry, arrogant ass, Ennis here would gladly do it for me."

L.D. swallowed. "What do you want?"

"I want this bullshit to stop, even if it means calling the police on my son's granpa. You have never liked me, made that real clear, and I have had it up to here with your harassing me. This is way beyond the last straw. I have put up with you disrespecting me for years but no more. Not after this."

L.D. chewed his tongue, making his mustache look like an angry caterpillar. "I have a reputation in this town, I don't need to have some broke-dick, washed-up rodeo cowboy like you goin' around tellin' bullshit stories like you've cooked up. Tell you what, though, you're right, I don't like you. Might be worth say, two thousand dollars to me if you split with Lureen real quiet, went on your way, kept your little story to yourself."

Jack stared at him dumbly, shocked by the less than thinly veiled bribe.

"I don't think so." Ennis shook his head. "Two thousand is nothin', 'specially when yer talking payin' somebody off to keep their mouth shut 'bout you tryin' to kill 'em. That's bullshit. C'mon, Jack, he ain't worth this; let's go to the police." Ennis took a step toward the door.

"Wait." L.D. looked almost panicked. "I could spare twenty thousand."

Jack looked at him. "If I'm gonna get outa here, I'm gonna hafta live someplace else, which is gonna mean buyin' a place."

"How about thirty then?"

Ennis and Jack shared a look. Jack nodded. "That'll do."

"And I want the negatives a those pictures."

"Oh, no, I'm keepin' those. 'Cause this is not ever gonna happen again and you are not gonna shirk on that thirty thousand. Are we clear?"

L.D. twitched his mustache. "We're clear." He looked away. "Start getting' that money to you next week."

"Tomorrow." Jack unlocked the door and went out, followed by Ennis, who closed it again.

A few steps from the door, Jack's body decided it couldn't run on sheer stubbornness anymore and his knees gave out. Ennis caught him, both of them cursing. Ennis looked at Penny, who had jumped to her feet. "Where's the nearest doctor?"

She gave him directions while holding doors open as he helped Jack back to the truck. Finally, she asked, "What happened to him?"

As one the two men answered: "Got thrown by a horse."

Penny nodded and went back inside, chewing her lip.

**A/N: This chapter has been a roadblock in this story for me. I skipped it when I was writing because I didn't know how to make it work, but I couldn't really leave it out. So the next however many chapters have been written for a while, ready to be typed, just waiting for me to get this chapter done. Feels good to be past that.**

**Happy fic-ing.**


	10. Chapter 10

After a long, unpleasant visit with a doctor—who clearly had his doubts about Jack and Ennis's "thrown from a horse" story, but who had practiced in small Texas towns for too many years to ask a lot of hard questions—they headed to Jack's house.

"This turn up here. Third house on the right." Jack was leaning in the corner of his seat. He looked more tired but less like death.

Ennis took the turn, pulled into the right driveway and cut the engine . They got out and he followed Jack up to the door. They were only a few steps inside when Lureen appeared from out of a hallway. "Jack, I'm glad you're—oh my God, what happened to you? Are you all right?" She continued twittering as she stepped toward Jack, completely ignoring Ennis.

Jack put up a hand. "Lureen, stop talking. I have the worst headache I've had since I stopped bullriding and I'm not in the mood."

She paused and settled her shoulders. "All right." She glanced at Ennis. "Who's this?"

"This is Ennis." Jack started to say something else but was interrupted by Lureen starting to say something to Ennis; he interrupted her and continued talking. "He's gonna help me get some of my stuff and we're gonna go get a hotel. I'm gettin' out of this house, Lureen. I'm done."

She stared at him. "Jack? What are you saying?"

"I just had a near-death experience and you know what? Your father hates me, I can't stand your shallow friends, I'm sick of selling tractors, your parents have no respect for me, I barely get to do the things I like, I dunno when the last time we had sex is, and you really do look better with brown hair. I feel like your pet. I'm done. I'm borderline miserable and I've had enough. We're getting divorced."

Lureen looked shocked. Jack beckoned for Ennis to follow him as he went upstairs. Lureen tried to catch Ennis as he followed. "Did you know he—"

"Nope." Quickly, he went after Jack. Lureen didn't follow.

With his wrist all bandaged up, among other injuries, Jack did need Ennis's help putting a good deal of his belongings into a couple of duffel bags Ennis recognized from some of their trips and getting them out of the truck.

As they were leaving, Lureen caught Jack by the arm. "Don't do this. Don't leave me by myself."  
"You don't need me." He pulled his arm away, went out the door, and got in Ennis's truck.

They got checked into the Comfort Inn and found their room. Jack lay on his back on top of the covers on one of the beds. Ennis didn't think he'd ever seen Jack look so tired, or so pale. It almost broke his heart. He sat next to Jack and ran his fingers through his hair, carefully avoiding the line of stitches above his right temple. "Darlin', I think you should just sleep."

Jack sighed. "Can we get something to eat first?"

"I guess."

Jack rolled over and rested his cheek on Ennis's thigh. "Ordering pizza would be easy."

"All right."

It took less than twenty minutes for the pizza to get there once it had been ordered. They ate without saying much and Jack went to bed. Ennis sat up a while, too rattled from the day's events to sleep but without much else to do. After a while, he decided to shower, then turned in for the night in the other bed so as not to disturb Jack.

Ennis awoke around nine, which for him was late. Jack was still asleep. He wasn't as pale as he'd been the night before, which Ennis was relieved to see. It also struck Ennis how young Jack still looked sometimes.

After a good deal of wrestling with his instinct to not leave Jack alone, Ennis scrawled a quick note in case he woke up while Ennis went to the lobby to take advantage of the free breakfast. Ennis needn't have worried. When he came back with a couple of biscuits and an apple, Jack was still asleep and it was another several hours before he woke up.

Jack rolled over, hid his face in a pillow, and made a muffled sound of distinct displeasure at not being asleep. Ennis gave up trying to balance a pen on its end and went to sit on the edge of Jack's bed. A couple minutes passed before Jack sat up slowly wincing just a bit and blinking groggily. He was still wearing Ennis's undershirt. "What time is it?"

"'Bout two, two-fifteen,"

"An' I went to bed?"

"'Round nine."

"So I slept how long?"

"Sixteen hours."

Jack sighed and put his forehead on Ennis's shoulder. "I don't think I been this sore in sixteen years."

"You kinda look like a train hit you."

"Mm." Jack stretched and quite a few joints popped. He winced.

"Saved you some stuff from breakfast."

"Thanks." Jack took the biscuits Ennis handed him and ate. There was quiet for a while. "Need to call an' get my truck towed. It's got a flat; that's why I was stopped."

Ennis nodded.

"At some point, I'm gonna need to call a lawyer." Jack exhaled. "And my parents. You should probably call and let somebody know where you are if you haven't."

"Yeah, I ought to call my boss. I left a note but still." He put an arm around Jack, pulled him closer, and rested his chin on top of Jack's head. "I get the feeling I'm gonna be here for a few days."

"Ennis, you don't have to."

"Yes, I do. I got a taste yesterday of what it'd be like to lose you and I couldn't stand it." He kissed Jack's forehead. "I ain't goin' anywhere."

Jack didn't protest.

Ennis called his boss, who was rather unhappy with Ennis's sudden departure, and told him he didn't know when he'd be back. Jack made a few calls, including to a lawyer and to his mother, the latter of which turned into quite a long conversation.

"No, Mom, it's all right. You don't have to come down here." There was a pause. "Oh no, Ennis is here, I ain't by myself." He sighed. "I'll come see you soon as stuff is worked out better. All right. Bye, Mama." He hung up and took a deep breath.


	11. Chapter 11

A week later, Ennis reluctantly headed home, Jack having received the first pay-off money from his soon-to-be-ex father-in-law.

"So," Ennis said, one foot up in his truck. "You come up an' see me once everything's gone through, okay?"

"I will."

"An' be careful."

"I will."

"Okay. Well, see you."

"Bye then."

Ennis patted Jack's shoulder, got in his truck, and drove off.

In early June, Ennis got a postcard from Jack saying the divorce had gone through and to expect him in a few days. Ennis took off the day Jack was to arrive—his boss, twice divorced himself, had suddenly become much more understanding when told why Ennis had to take off.

When Jack drove up, Ennis trotted out to meet him and pulled him into a hug. Jack hugged him back. "Hey. Oh, watch the ribs."

"Sorry." Ennis loosened his hold. "You wanna come in?"

"Of course." Jack grinned.

They went inside, Jack set his hat down and hugged Ennis more tenderly, chin on his shoulder. "I'm tired. It's been a long month."

"I'm sure." Ennis rubbed Jack's back and kissed his cheek. Jack kissed his mouth. Ennis kissed him back. They stood there some time, arms around one another, kissing warmly, needily, but without the urgency there so often was between them. For a moment it felt like they were back on the mountain.

Ennis put his hands on either side of Jack's face, pulled away, and met his eyes, rubbing his cheek with a thumb. Jack let out a breath. "I'm hungry."

Ennis chuckled, stepped back, and ruffled Jack's hair. "Then let's have lunch."

After a good deal of rummaging through cabinets, Ennis found and heated up two cans of spaghettios. They sat on the couch, eating and talking, touching and smiling. Bowls set aside some time later, the conversation dissolved into kissing again. Ennis pulled at Jack's shirt and nipped his lip.

"Watch it," Jack nipped him back. "That just healed."

"Whatever." Ennis pushed Jack's shirt down over his shoulders. It didn't take much longer for the rest of their clothes to hit the floor.

Light from the setting sun slanted in through a gap in the curtains and fell across Ennis's bare back and Jack's arm around his waist. Jack kissed softly at the corner of Ennis's mouth and Ennis combed his fingers through Jack's hair. They lay without speaking while the light spilling through the curtains crawled across the room and up the wall. Jack rolled over so he was laying on Ennis's chest and kissed his forehead. Ennis smiled, reached up and touched Jack's cheek. "I gotta work tomorrow, you know."

Jack sighed and rolled to lay next to Ennis. "Damnit, En..." He sighed again and was quiet a while. "Say, Ennis?"

"Yeah?"

"D'you think now neither a us is tied down, we could get a place together?" Ennis sighed and Jack continued, pulling Ennis close and kissing his hair as he spoke. "I know you think us livin' together is a bad idea but—"

"All right."

Jack paused, somewhat stunned. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, I been worried that one a us—you, really—would get hurt or killed 'cause somebody figured but...hell, you damn near got killed anyway. So now I just, I'm sick of missing you an', shit, Jack, I don't want to lose you—I couldn't take that—so, all right. Let's get a place together."

Jack put his arms around Ennis, too happy to put his feelings into words.


	12. Chapter 12

Within a few days, Jack left for Lightning Flat to see his folks. Another couple days and a fight with his boss later, Ennis followed.

The run down little farm with its whitewashed buildings and dirt drive would have been completely unremarkable to Ennis if it weren't for the name on the mailbox and Jack's truck parked out front of the house. The kitchen door was propped open so Ennis went in, knocking on the door frame as he did. A fairly petite woman with short, wavy hair and hands shaped by a long life of hard work turned to smile at him from where she stood at the sink, washing dishes. "Oh, hello, you must be Ennis." She stepped away from the counter and dried her hands on a tartan towel. "Jack said you'd be comin'." She laughed softly. "I've heard an awful lot about from him. I'm his mother, Sue." She held out a hand.

With the hand that wasn't holding his hat, Ennis shook her hand. "Nice to meet you ma'am. Uh..."

"Jack's upstairs. Been tryin' to fix an old radio all day." She jerked a thumb toward where Ennis could see the foot of a flight of stairs in the hallway. "Go on, first door on the right at the top of the stairs."

Ennis nodded to Jack's mother and went up to the second floor. The first door on the right stood open, and there was Jack, sitting on the floor, a radio that couldn't have been much younger than himself opened up in front of him. He looked up and smiled. "Hey, En."

Ennis smiled, "Hey," and sat on the floor next to Jack. "Why are you tryin' to fix this old thing?"

"Mama was complaining yesterday that it don't work. My dad's out playing poker with some a the other old men, by the way."

"Should I be glad a that?"

Jack snorted. "Probably."

After a bit, Jack closed up the radio and took it down stairs, Ennis a step behind. Jack set the radio on the kitchen table. "It oughta work now, Mama."

"Oh, thank you, Jack, that's terrific." Sue put the lid on a pot of roast on the stove. "Could you boys help me with something out in the shed? I promised Carol down the road with some things for her daughter's gettin' married."

"Oh, yeah, I can help an' I'm sure Ennis don't mind."

Ennis nodded. "Not at all."

Sue lead the two of them out to the shed and put them to work loading furniture and boxes of things like plates into the old, dark pickup Ennis recognized as having once been Jack's. After a while, Sue frowned and said, "Jack, you're startin' to look tired. You wanna go in and lay down?"

Jack shook his head. "Naw, Mama, I'm fine."

She crossed her arms. "You're still healing up an' you been under an awful lot of stress. I think you should go take a rest."

"I'm fine, Mama."

"Jack."

"I'm telling you, I'm okay."

Sue looked unimpressed. "Johnathan."

Jack visibly winced. "Alright, alright, I'll go." Grumbling to himself, he went inside.

"I have never," Ennis said, "heard anyone call him anything other than Jack."

"Oh, he hates bein' called by his full name. When he was about seven he threw a fit 'cause his teacher called him John." She shrugged. "He's just Jack; 'cept, of course, when I'm cross with 'im."

Ennis snorted, not quite laughing. He liked Sue.

"Can you get that box there, the one with a picture of an owl on it? Then I think that's all that'll fit in the truck."

As Ennis dug the indicated box out of the pile of more or less random stuff that surrounded it, Sue asked, "You an' Jack known each other a long time, yeah?"

"Almost twenty years." Ennis set aside a ceramic figurine of a cat, then, as it gave him the uneasy feeling it was watching him, put an empty feed bag over.

"Mhm, that's what I thought. That's longer than he's ever had any one friend other than you."

"Mm."

"He talks about you 'bout as much as he talks about Bobby, more than he ever really did 'bout Lureen." She nodded, agreeing with herself. "Two a you seem real close, I'm gad a it, too."

Ennis made a sound of acknowledgment.

"Figure you know 'im better than anybody else does these days."

"Might."

There was a silence long enough for Ennis to finish unburying the box but just too short for him to pick it up.

"Jack wears a green carnation sometimes, don't he?"

Ennis half choked on air and turned to face Sue, no clue what to say.

"I mean," she amended, "he's a grown man, it's long past bein' any a my business what he does behind closed doors, but I'd like to know if he's doin' anything that's like to get him hurt, and he's my son, so one way or another I'm obligated to love 'im. I just figured you'd probably know if anybody does."

Ennis stared at er a while then looked away to watch a raptor circling in the sky some way off. "Yeah, yeah, he does."

Sue sighed. "I can't say I'm surprised."

Unable to think of a response, Ennis picked up the box, walked across the dusty yard, and put it in the truck. Trailing after him, Sue asked softly, "He didn't get thrown by no horse, did he?"

"No, ma'am."

"I'm glad you were there."

Ennis nodded. Sue was quiet a while. "I sure don't mean to offend but I hope you can understand my askin' if you you ever wear a green carnation, too."

It took a while for Ennis to decide whether and how to answer, then, very softly and without looking at her, he said, "Only for him."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't think you can know how glad I am a that." She rubbed his shoulder then took her hand away. "And if I'm bein' honest—which I can be now they're not married—I never liked Lureen. Shallow little viper. C'mon, help me finish makin' supper."

"I really can't cook."

"I doubt you can be any worse than Jack and I make him help."

**A/N: School year is finally over for me so, hopefully, I'll be able to post more regularly for a while.  
Anyway "to wear a green carnation" is a slang term from the Victorian era meaning (in reference to men) "to have or exhibit homosexual tenancies." Sue would have been born in the early 20's, and the phrase was still fairly widely used until WWII in some parts of the world so I decided it was reasonable for Sue to use it and for Ennis to understand it.**


	13. Chapter 13

Ennis's main role in helping finish supper turned out to be peeling potatoes, which he did have some aptitude for; probably because he'd whittled since he was old enough to wield a pocket knife. The roast smelled amazing but Sue kept looking at it and frowning as if it were speaking in bad Chinese and she was trying to work out what it was saying. Thinking about it, Ennis realized a lot of women did that.

"Everything'll be done in just a minute, you wanna wake Jack up?"

"You don't wanna wait for your husband?"

"Oh, with him playin' cards an' drinkin' an' talkin' I'll be lucky to see him again 'fore tomorrow night."

Ennis shrugged but, having been guilty of much the same, said nothing and went upstairs to wake Jack.

The little room at the top of the stairs fit Jack. Ennis hadn't paid much attention to it earlier when Jack was fixing the radio but everything about it, from the scuffed floor to the magazine pages taped to the wall, just seemed to belong to Jack. The man himself was laying face down on the rumpled quilt that covered his bed, snoring softly into his pillow, one arm dangling over the side of the mattress.

Ennis shook Jack's shoulder until he woke, and received a pillow in the face for his efforts. At almost forty years old, Jack still acted like a child.

With a long suffering sigh, Ennis set the pillow on the bed. "Your mama said to come get you; supper's ready."

Jack sat up. His shirt was rumpled and partially unbuttoned and his hair was sticking up in all directions. Ennis half smiled and smoothed down Jack's hair. "Darlin', you are a mess."

"Whatever," Jack grumbled and stood, fixed his clothes, then went back down to the kitchen with Ennis trailing a step behind.

Sue spent the majority of supper good-naturedly chastising her son for one thing or another or smiling knowingly to herself.

"Mama, what're you lookin' like that for?"

"Oh, I'm just thinkin' I'm glad you got Ennis here to look after your behind." She took a sip of her tea. "Anyway, Jack, you can't stay here forever an' I know you an' your daddy can only stand each other for so long. So, what are you going to do with yourself?"

"Well, uh," Jack paused with a chunk of potato halfway to his mouth and glanced at Ennis. "We were thinkin' maybe me an' Ennis buy a place, run it together, since we're both divorced." He shrugged. "More stable than bein' hired hands an' easier to do together than on our own."

Ennis nodded. Sue made an approving noise. "Sounds like a pretty good plan. Guess you boys had best start reading the classifieds."


	14. Chapter 14

That evening Jack and Ennis started looking for a place to buy together. Ennis went home a few days later but they both kept looking and called each other every couple days to compare findings. After a few weeks, Jack drove down and spent several days with Ennis. They sat across from one another at Ennis's only table, sharing a cigaret, each scanning a different newspaper. Jack paused, "Hey, look at this." He set the paper on the table, pushed it toward Ennis, and jabbed a finger at an ad. "This looks good."

Ennis picked up the paper and squinted at the ad. Jack had told him three times that morning alone to get glasses—every time, Ennis had told him to shut up. The paper folded itself over; Ennis straightened it and finished reading. "That is good..."

Jack grinned and put out their cigaret. "Don't cost too much either."

"That's true."

"Should I call 'bout this one?"

Ennis nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I think so. I'm going to shower."

"Alright." Jack reached for the phone.

Within a month, Jack and Ennis had bought a ranch a few towns over from Riverton. The previous owner had suddenly had to sell for whatever he could get. Jack went to the ranch. Ennis, meanwhile, had to drive into Riverton to pick his girls up for the weekend and—though he dreaded it—inform Alma that he'd be moving.

Junior sat backwards in a chair, staring out the window, waiting for her father. His truck stopped on the side of the street and she ran outside to meet him partway across the yard. "Hey, Daddy."

"Hey, Junior." He pet her hair then pulled out of her embrace. "Uh, where's Jenny?"

"She's on a trip with girlscouts all weekend."

"Oh. Alright, uh..." Ennis took a breath. "I need to talk to your mother."

Surprised, Junior nodded, led her father inside, and carefully closed the door. She turned and called into the house. "Hey, Mama? Uh, Daddy says he needs to talk to you."

Frowning suspiciously, Alma appeared in the doorway of the living room. "What do you want, Ennis?"

"I just need to tell you, I uh, I'm moving. To Crowheart. Just figured you should know." He shifted his weight nervously.

Alma folded her arms. "Moving? Did you lose your job again?" She sounded accusatory.

"No. I did not. Bought a place."

"With what money?"

Ennis hesitated. "I didn't buy it by myself." He looked out the window quickly. "Jack bought it with me."

Alma's chest puffed up and her eyes went wide. "You're moving _in_ with him?" After a deep breath she said to Junior, "Can you step out please?"

Junior sat on the arm of the couch. "No."

"Junior," Alma said warningly.

"I'm not leaving the room." She looked down and tugged at the hem of her shirt. "There's nothing you might say I don't know."

Alma stared at her daughter. Junior looked up and shrugged. "I know." She looked to her father. "I know about Jack."

"I know." Ennis was looking at the carpet.

Alma looked back and forth between Junior and Ennis a few times then turned on Ennis. "I will not allow my daughter to spend time with that man!"

"Too late, Mama. I've met him, I like him, he's nice. I know you hate him, I can't say I blame you, but you don't get to force that on me." With that, Junior stood, brushed past her mother, and went upstairs to get her things.

Dumbfounded and indignant, Alma looked at Ennis again, now with nothing to say.

"I didn't know 'til after the fact that she'd talked to Jack. I had no idea."

"When did—" Alma was shocked.

"Few months back." There was quiet a while. "'Bout a month ago, well, more like two, Jack got divorced, so he had to move anyway, an'..." He shrugged.

"Sure 'nough." Alma hugged herself.

Junior came back downstairs and she and Ennis left in silence. Sitting in the truck, staring out the window at the house across the street, Junior said, "I'm glad you an' Jack are moving in together."

Ennis nodded once and started the truck.


	15. Chapter 15

Over dinner that night, Junior asked, "So when exactly are you moving?"

"Not next weekend or the one after, but the one after that."

Junior nodded. "'Kay." There was a pause. "Jack already there?"

"Yeah, but he ain't livin' off much."

With a small smile, Junior popped a french fry into her mouth. "I figure he can manage."

Ennis snorted. "He's lived off worse."

Another silence settled over them. They were sitting at an old, worn picnic table outside a little hole in the wall restaurant. It was an odd time of day and there was no one else outside.

"Jack told you he told me?"

Ennis sighed. "Yeah... What with my bein' outta town and then you bein' on that field trip it's been a while since we seen each other, lot's happened."

"'M sure." A minute passed without words. "Just how bad did you blow up when he told you he'd told me?"

"I, uh," Ennis picked at his food, "I kinda kicked him outta my house."

Junior sighed. "Can't say I'm too surprised. Then what? You felt bad an' followed 'im back to Texas?"

"Pretty much." Ennis shifted uncomfortably. "Saw 'im nearly get killed."

Junior half choked on her soda. "What?!"

Ennis shushed her.

"Sorry," she said more quietly. "But what the hell? What happened? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine now, but, uh, look, we can talk more about this later, alright?"

She nodded.

When Junior returned home on Sunday, Alma was waiting for her on the porch. "So, how was your weekend?"

"It was good. We talked. You know, as much as we ever talk. It was good." With a little nod and half a shrug, Junior headed inside.

Alma followed her in silence up to her room.

"Whatever you're debating saying, Mama, just say it."

"Did you talk about _him_?"

Junior sat on her bed and looked at her mother. "Yeah. A little." She shrugged. "You're divorced and remarried. It's not any of your business anymore what they do. It's all awkward and weird and everything thinking 'bout Daddy and Jack bein'," she waved a hand vaguely, "you know, _together_, but really, to me, it isn't any more awkward than you and Bill. Least I know it isn't gonna mean any more half siblings to babysit." She stood and put a hand on her light switch. "Goodnight, Mama."


	16. Chapter 16

Move in day for Ennis was bright and warm with a soft breeze. There wasn't much to be moved in but plenty to be fixed—before having to sell, the previous owner had let the place fall into moderate disrepair and Jack had only gotten so much done on his own.

Halfway up a ladder to the roof of the small, shadowy porch, Jack looked around at the sound of a car turning onto their driveway. Ennis looked up too. "What the hell?"

Jack looked at him from his perch on the ladder. "What?"

"That's Alma's car."

"What the hell?"

The car parked and Junior stepped out of the driver's door. "Hey Daddy, Jack." She smiled.

The two men stared at her in disbelieving silence, glanced at each other, then continued staring. Ennis was the first to recover his voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I am helping you move."

"I don't think so." Ennis pulled his gloves on. "Go home, Junior."

"Oh, no." Junior sat on the hood of the yellow Buick, arms crossed. "I'm helping. If nothin' else, I'll cook for you. I know you can't cook, and I highly doubt he can cook—no offense, Jack—and it's easier to do anything when you've eaten good."

Ennis looked to Jack for some kind of support.

"No, no." Jack mounted the last few rungs and stood on the corner of the roof. "Your daughter, my mother's logic. I am not getting' into this. No way." He went over the crest of the roof and vanished from sight.

Junior beamed at her father. He sighed. "Fine. You can help. Just do not go up on the roof."

"Deal." She trotted over and hugged her father. "Honestly, I'm impressed you let him up there."

"He didn't wanna." Jack reappeared. "But I weigh less, so," he shrugged. "How'd you get your mama's car?"

"I threatened to walk here instead."

Jack laughed. Ennis shook his head. "You couldn't walk here from Riverton, it's something like fifty miles."

"Friend, you forget, she's got your stubborn streak." Jack laughed again. "I bet she could probably walk to San Francisco if she wanted to."

Outnumbered, Ennis grumbled and retreated inside. After a moment, Jack made a beckoning motion to Junior. "Get up here."

"But my daddy—"

"Is in the basement. I know what he was goin' to work on. Don't worry, this part ain't steep and I could actually use your help."

With just a moment of hesitation, Junior joined Jack on the roof. "Alright—whoa, this is high—what d'you need me to do?"

"Sit there." Jack pointed. "Hold these." He handed her a hammer and a box of nails.

Junior did as told and watched Jack replace broken hardwood shingles for a while, handing him nails or the hammer as needed. Tentatively, she said, "My daddy said that, uh, you kinda got beat up."

Jack froze a moment. "Yeah... Junior, I'd rather not talk about it."

"That's alright, I understand," she said quickly. "Just, I'm really glad you're okay."

"Well, thank you." He paused. "You know, if you hadn't called, we hadn't talked, Ennis hadn't thrown me out—if just about anything that happened hadn't—I definitely might not be here."

Junior set aside the box of nails and hugged Jack tight. "I am _so_ glad you're okay."  
Jack hugged her back a while then pulled away. "Why d'you care so much about me?" He hung his head guiltily and ran a hand through his hair. "If it weren't for me, your parents'd still be married. I," he shrugged lamely, "I ruined your family_."  
_For a long moment Junior chewed her lower lip. "I don't think so... I mean, you may have sped things up, there's really no saying you played no part in, well," she waved a hand, "everything. But my daddy and mama are _so_ different. He's stubborn, you know that, and kinda rough. She's quiet, so quiet, and just," Junior paused to search for the right word, "soft. They're polar opposites, always have been far back as I can remember. Hardly never quite see eye to eye on mucha anything, 'specially me an' Jenny. I think, eventually, things woulda gone to hell no matter what." She looked at Jack, who was still rather sullen, and leaned against him. "As far as these things go, I figure it's for the better that you have been a part of it. Else, my daddy'd be alone, which he's been too much already in his life, and it ain't good for 'im. You, though, I think are good for 'im. Hell, I know you are. Besides all that, you are just really, really hard to not like."  
Jack snorted in a distinctly non-laugh way. "Thank you. You had best get off the roof 'fore your daddy get's back out here."  
"Right."


	17. Chapter 17

Junior woke suddenly and looked around, confused that she wasn't in her room. Within a moment she remembered: she was at her father's and Jack's new house. She got out of bed and went down the hallway then the stairs to the kitchen. After o glass of water and some bread, she went back upstairs. Halfway down the hallway she paused, her eyes and thoughts drawn to the plain, brown, wood door behind which lay the master bedroom. She walked over and put her ear to the door. Silence behind. She put a hand on the knob and found it unlocked. Slowly and tentatively, she opened the door.

Jack was laying somewhere between on his back and on his side, his head tucked to his lower shoulder, one arm half around Ennis who had wound up with his forehead against Jack's hair, one hand on his chest, the other on his waist. One, or maybe both, of them had kicked the sheets down to about their knees. They reminded Junior of a pair of giant puppies. Smiling to herself, she shut the door as quietly she could and went back to bed.

She lay awake for a while, thinking. She mumbled to herself, "If he were a dog, Jack would be... a Jack Russell." She smiled. It was too perfect. She rolled over. "Daddy'd be… Some kind of gundog…." Shortly after that, she fell back asleep.

When Junior next awoke, pale sunlight was filtering in from outside. She sat up and blinked, then, muffled through the walls from two rooms over, she heard Jack laugh and her father snap that something wasn't funny.

Junior got up, padded down the hall, and stuck her head in. "What happened?"

"Your daddy hit himself in the face with the closet door." Jack, sitting on the bed, still in his pajamas, started laughing again, leaning hard on his elbows on his knees with his face in his hands. A pair of wadded up socks bounced harmlessly off his head after being chucked across the room by a rather cross and sore Ennis.

"I'm gonna make breakfast." Junior shut the door, ran downstairs, then burst out laughing as soon as she was in the kitchen.


	18. Chapter 18

It was the last week of school. Finals were over but classes. A few teachers were still trying to teach. Junior's physics teacher was not one of them.

Junior and Lori had filled a notebook with tic-tac-toe, hangman, and MASH, then Lori had fallen asleep on her desk. Now Junior was doodling dogs wearing cowboy hats—a Jack Russell terrier and a Labrador. Slowly she became aware of a conversation going on behind her.

"Hey, Clairmont," said a rather unfriendly voice. "Why don't you join the wrestling team next year?"

"I'm not a wrestler." Stephan Clairmont, a tall, handsome, quiet boy Junior had known vaguely since third grade, sitting in the next row back, surrounded by football players.

"You don't think you'd _enjoy_ it?"

"No, I'm not a wrestler, nor do I want to be."

"I think he'd like it," one jock said to another. "Maybe too much." They snickered. "Or wait, that's why you don't wanna, ain't it? 'Fraid you couldn't control yourself and everybody'd see–sproing–" he made a rude gesture, "how much you _like_ it?"

The pigs laughed. Junior stood so fast her chair fell over. She whirled around, slammed her hand — flat and loud — on the desk of the boy who'd last spoken. "Shut your disgusting ignorant traps and leave him the hell alone."

Silence fell among the group, six pairs of eyes — Stephan's, Lori's, and the boys'– fixed on Junior. As he recovered from his initial shock, the lead pig smirked indulgently. "Miss Delmar, you must not have understood our joke. Clairmont's queer, c'mon, you get it, wrestling, right? It's funny."

"No, it ain't funny, Jordan. I don't care if Stephan, or anybody, is queer, or gay, or trans-whatever-the-hell. You're an asshole and you should mind your own business."

"But James _saw_ him and—"

"I do not care," Junior snapped at Jordan's idiot friend, "who James saw with whom or what he saw them doing. It ain't no reason to be jerks."

"Why d'you even care?" another of Jordan's friends asked. "Are _you_ a freak too?"

"He ain't a freak and no, I'm not. I like boys, once upon a time I thought you were cute, then I realized you're a mean S.O.B." She leaned on the desk. "I care because I know a guy, not in Riverton, someone from way outta town, I met him one time while I was with my Daddy. You'd call 'im queer 'cause he's in love with a man, lives with a man, but you know what? He could kick all your sorry asses! None of you know anything. One out of—I think it's s'posed to be—ten guys is what you'd call queer. Well, there's about two-hundred guys at this school, so there's probably about twenty who like other guys. You don't know who it is, could be anybody, and you don't care unless you think you know. You're such stupid, goddamn idiots!"

"Alma!" The teacher had finally noticed the commotion. "I hope you have a very good reason for having said that, young lady."

Junior turned and without missing a beat said, "He slept with Cynthia Bray, sir, if you know what I mean, _and_ they didn't use protection. I'm just shocked Jordan didn't know better than to do that kinda thing."

The bell rang, releasing the class and ending the day while Jordan was dragged down to the counselor's office. There was nothing he could do. Junior had merely repeated what he and Cynthia had been bragging about all that Monday.

Stephan caught Junior just off campus as she walked home. "Hey, uh, thanks. You didn't have to do that."

Junior nodded and shrugged. "I couldn't have not said something."

"Thank you, still."

She smiled, shrugged again, and hesitated. "Are you—?"

"Yeah." He looked at his feet.

Junior took his hand. "That's just fine.

He smiled and looked at her. "Thank you." He paused. "Do you really know somebody?"

"Yeah." Junior laughed. "And he really could kick their asses."

Stephan grinned. "That's way cool."


	19. Chapter 19

Eight-hundred miles away in Childress, school was also letting out.

"Hey, Bobby!" David, one of Bobby's friends called, jogging up to him from across the parking lot. "Next week, once school's out, my dad's taking me an' my brothers camping. You wanna come?"

Bobby shrugged, one hand on the door handle of his truck. "Can't."

"Why?" David leaned on the truck.

"I'm gonna be in Wyoming, with my dad."

"Oh yeah, I forgot your folks split. Hey, can you give me a ride home?"

"Sure." Bobby yanked the door open.

While they waited at a red light David asked, "D'you know what happened? Between your folks, I mean."

"No clue. It's weird, it don't feel like a whole lot has changed."

"That probably says somethin' 'bout your home life."

Bobby snorted.

Jack fell heavily into bed. He and Ennis had spent the day buying horses from a bankrupt ranch, then getting the horses home. Much cursing had been involved.

"Today's the last day of school."

"Yeah? Ain't Bobby coming next week?" Ennis bit at a hangnail.

"Yeah." Jack stretched. "You wanna shower?"

"Huh?"

"You wanna shower?" He got up and hugged Ennis from behind. "_Together_?"

"Oh." Ennis shivered as Jack started to undo the buttons of his shirt. "Yeah."

Junior got out of the car and trotted over to the fence of the pasture. "Daddy!" She waved.

Ennis looked up, paused, and waved back. He didn't seem particularly surprised to see her.

"Where's Jack?"

"Inside."

"'Kay; love ya, Daddy!" She went inside to find Jack leaning on the kitchen counter, eating a sandwich and reading the newspaper.

Hearing her come in, he looked up, and smiled. "Hey there, Junior."

"Hey." She smiled back.

"Out of school so you thought you'd just drop in outta nowhere?"

"Pretty much, hope that's okay."

"Of course. I'm starting to expect it from you." He set the paper aside. "Guess you saw we got horses."

"I did, they're beautiful. How many are there?"

"Seven, four mares, two geldings, and a stallion."

"That's so cool." Junior pulled out a chair from under the kitchen table and sat. "What are you two gonna do with the horses, other than keep 'em?"

"Maybe give riding lessons or something—if Ennis can be talked into it. I'd rather we didn't have outside jobs in the long run."

"Makes sense. So, why's Daddy out there fixin' the fence?"

"The stallion busted an old rail just playin' around."

"Oh, wow." Junior laughed. "Can you show me the horses?"

"Yeah, c'mon."

Junior linked her arm through Jack's and walked outside with him.

Later that day, the phone rang. Jack answered it. "Hello?" He paused. "Mama?"

The conversation went on a bit, then Jack said, "I guess you can come over." He threw a questioning look at Ennis, who shrugged. "Yeah, that's fine. I'll see you in a couple days."

Jack hung up a sentence or two later. "So, everybody's just comin' over this week. Ennis, why don't you call your brother?"

"You had best be joking."

"Daddy, why haven't I ever met my uncle?"

Ennis tried to form an answer but was interrupted by Jack. "Wait, you have never met your uncle?"

Junior shook her head. "Not ever. Met Daddy's sister a few times 'round the holidays, mostly when I was little, and my Mama's sister is in Riverton so I know her an' her family, but I've never met my uncle."  
"Christ, Ennis, I know you an' K.E. don't get along, but this is crazy." Jack shook his head.


	20. Chapter 20

"Please, Daddy, I know how to ride."

"I told you, I don't know these horses yet..."

"Daddy, c'mon."

The father-daughter argument was interrupted by Jack returning from picking his mother up from the bus stop. Once out of the truck, Sue motioned Ennis over and hugged him. "Good to see you again, Ennis." She noticed Junior. "And who is this pretty young thing?"

Junior looked down bashfully.

"This is Ennis's daughter, Junior. Junior, this is my mother, Sue."

Barely glancing up, Junior mumbled a "Nice to meet you," at her shoes.

"Well, Junior, it's nice to meet you too." Sue smiled and patted the girl's shoulder.

Junior continued to be painfully shy until lunch time, when she found herself bonding with Sue over the men's inability to cook.

While Junior and Sue bonded, Jack and Ennis were working out in the stable. Jack leaned against the open tackroom door. "Ennis, we might have a problem."

"What are you talkin' about?"

"Including ours, there are three bedrooms in this house. Junior and my mama are here _and_ Bobby'll be here in a couple days."

"Shit, I hadn't thought of that." Ennis snapped shut the lid on a feed bin. "For now it's alright, Junior and your mama both know, but—"

"My mama knows?" Jack was staring at Ennis, slightly open mouthed.

"Uh, you didn't know she knows?"

"No."

"Shit... Well, she knows."

"Since when?" Jack crossed his arms.

"Since I was up at Lightning Flat. She right out asked me."

"Shit..." Jack took a deep breath and shook his head. "Alright then. That does make things simpler, but there's still Bobby."

Ennis shook his head and rubbed Jack's shoulder. "I dunno what to tell you."

"I think I have to tell him."

"Jack, I—"

"I don't _want_ to tell him, but," he shrugged and sighed, "I do not want to lie to him and there's no way to do neither."

Ennis chewed his lower lip. "He's your son, I guess..."

Two days later, Bobby arrived in the pale green truck he'd gotten for his birthday the month before. He hopped out, gravel crunching under his boots, walked up to the porch and paused when Sue appeared in the doorway. "Grandma?"

"Hello, Bobby." She smiled and hugged her grandson. "Let me look at ya." She held him at arms length a moment. "Oh, you've gotten so big. You look just like your father did at your age."

"Thanks, Grandma."

"Get in here, we're just having lunch."

Bobby came inside, greeted and hugged his father, then glanced pointedly at the two DelMars. Jack took the hint. "This is Ennis and his daughter, Junior. She's visitin' like you are."

Ennis nodded at Bobby once and was mostly ignored—Bobby and Junior were eyeing one another like a pair of unfriendly horses put in the same pasture. If it weren't so nervewracking it would have been funny.

After a short silence, Junior asked, "How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"I'm older."

"So?" Bobby leaned on the table.

Junior shrugged and stood. "I am."

"Well, I'm taller."

"That don't count, you're a boy."

"What's my bein' a boy got to do with anything?"

"Boys tend to be taller, so it don't count that yer taller," Junior said matter of factly and left the room.

Bobby looked at his father. "What just happened?"

"Teenaged girl logic in one of its more understandable forms."

"Girls are weird." Bobby sat in an empty chair and started on the plate of food set in front of him by his grandmother.

"They never start to make any more sense, either." Jack took a sip of his drink.

"Is that why you're here now?" Bobby asked quickly.

Every adult eye in the room went to Bobby, then four of them went to Jack.

Jack paused then took a breath. "We can talk about that later, I promise."

Bobby nodded. "Alright."

* * *

**A/N: With the end of this chapter, this story has reached a hundred pages handwritten and I've run out of room in the notebook I started writing in. I've got another notebook and I've written a few more chapters, including a Fourth of July chapter which I'm afraid will be a few days late.**

**Thank you to everyone who's reading this and who has supported this story so far. I really appreciate your reading this and I like to hear what you think so feel free to drop a review.**


	21. Chapter 21

"C'mere Bobby." Jack put an arm around his son and steered him to the living room. Ennis, who had been sitting in an armchair whittling, rose and started to leave the room. Jack caught him by the shirt. "Oh, no. You are part of this. Stay." Jack turned to Bobby who'd sat on the couch. "I told you we'd talk, so let's talk."

Bobby nodded. "What happened? What changed; why'd you leave?"

Jack took a deep breath and explained how things had been drifting between him and Lureen for years and then glanced at Ennis. "And, Bobby, part of all that, and why I'm here now is," he took a breath and, out of the corner of his eye, saw Ennis tense, "because Ennis and I, uh, we," he paused and ran a hand over his face. "We're involved."

"_Involved_?"

"I hesitate to say romantically, but that's the general idea."

Bobby's mouth fell open in horrified disbelief as he glanced quickly between his father and Ennis. "You're joking. You _have_ to be joking. Tell me you're joking."

"I wouldn't joke like this, Bobby."

"You left my mother for a man?!" Bobby got to his feet without noticing he had.

"It's a lot more complicated than that, but yes."

"The fuck is wrong with you?!"

Jack flinched as if struck and stood slowly. "Bobby," he said almost too calmly. "I know this isn't easy for you but, just, it's a complicated situation and—"

"Why would you do this?!"

"Because I love him, Robert!"

Ennis looked at the floor. He was leaning against the wall near the door to the kitchen. Just then, Junior came through the other door, frowning, having heard the shouting from upstairs.

Bobby snorted. "This ain't new, is it? You _cheated_."

"I have done all I can to not hurt anyone and still keep myself sane. Yes, I cheated, and I am anything but proud of it. You are old enough to know how it feels to want to be with someone and not be able to, and I know you've had your heart broken—I think the same girl is responsible for all that. I have been livin' feelin' like that for as long as you have been alive. This is the best way I can fix things. It's still crap, I know, but it's better than me an Ennis both bein' miserable an' me goin' 'round behind your mama's back. Can you just _try_ to understand that I'm doing my best to do things right?"

"There ain't nothing right 'bout you shacking up with some queer," Bobby spat.

A loud crack sounded through the room. Eyes wide, Bobby put a hand to his now stinging cheek. Junior had crossed the short distence between them and smacked him, hard. "Don't you dare," she hissed, "ever call my daddy that again."

Bobby stared at her a moment then sneered. "Stay out of this."

"I am part of this!" She stomped her foot.

"Bullshit."

"Bobby, please—"

"Jack," Ennis began.

"Shut up, faggot."

Junior grabbed the front of Bobby's shirt, Ennis clenched his fists, and Jack said, "Bobby!" all at the same time.

"What the devil is going on in here?" Sue had been in the kitchen and now appeared in the doorway. Silence fell under her scowl. "Sit. All of you." She crossed her arms and watched her orders be obeyed. "Jack, Ennis, you're supposed to be adults, act like it. This whole situation should not have gone this far downhill this fast. Bobby, you are being unreasonable and not just rude but absolutely mean. You're not listening or making any attempt to understand. Your father is trying to talk to you about something that is very uncomfortable for him. It would be a lot easier for him to lie to you, but he respects you enough not to. Ennis is a good man and he loves your father. I'm gonna talk to you more in a minute. Junior, did you smack him?"

Junior looked down. "Yes ma'am."

"Violence is not the first thing you should resort to but I say every woman ought to have a good arm on her. Bobby, come into the kitchen, we're gonna talk."

Sullenly, Bobby followed his grandmother out of the room. Jack closed his eyes, slumped forward and hid his face in his hands. Ennis put an arm around him. Feeling awkward, Junior slunk back upstairs.

* * *

**A/N: Can I just say that I found this chapter really hard to write? The things Bobby says...**


	22. Chapter 22

Late that night, Junior came downstairs. Bobby had a bed made up on the couch but he wasn't asleep. He looked up when she walked into the room. She sat on the arm of the couch near his feet. "Listen, I'm sorry I slapped you but you were outta line. Neither of our fathers is queer—if they were we probably wouldn't exist."

Bobby rolled his eyes and turned away from her.

"I really like your daddy, you know. He's a great guy, funny, and nice." Bobby stayed silent so she continued. "He thinks I ought to hate him. But I don't."  
"Why don't you?"

"Because I think that, in the end, they're better off together. Bobby, we're in the same boat, only difference is my parents been divorced longer. I can tell you: none of this has anything to do with you. Jack hates how upset you are. He feels really bad. He thinks that how much anybody's been hurt by this thing with him and my daddy is all his own fault."

Bobby just looked at her. She looked at him too. The clock in the kitchen ticked hollowly a while.

"Is part of why you're freaking out so bad 'cause you're thinking that if your dad likes guys, you might too?"

"What? No, I wasn't thinking that at all."

Junior raised one eyebrow. "Anyway, it probably doesn't."

"I don't wanna talk about this."

"Fine. But just get over yourself," she said gently then left.

* * *

Breakfast the next morning was extremely awkward. No one talked. Bobby stared at his food, as did Junior. Jack and Ennis sat next to each other in silence, knees touching under the table. Sue was the closest to normal, though she didn't say a word either.

Ennis finished his food, stood, dropped his plate in the sink, let his hand rest a moment on Jack's shoulder, then went outside. After Ennis left, the place on Jack's shoulder where his hand had been felt very cold.

Bobby snorted at his bacon and received a sharp but not very hard kick from the girl sitting next to him.

Jack finished eating and went outside as well. He walked down the hill behind the house to the stable, found Ennis in the tack room and hugged him hard. After a moment of surprise, Ennis hugged Jack back.

They stayed like that a while then went about their chores.


	23. Chapter 23

Jenny was the first one to the phone. She called up the stairs, "Junior! It's for you, and it's a boy!"

Junior took the stairs two at a time and took the phone from her sister. "Hello?"

"Hey, Junior."  
"Stephan?" She paused. "You know my phone number?"

He chuckled. "They're called phone books."

"Oh, right. So, uh, what's up?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to go to the fairgrounds on Thursday. My...best friend is gonna be in town, if you wanna meet him."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, if you don't mind."

"No, I'd kinda like to actually be able to have _someone_ meet him."

"Okay. See you then, I guess."

* * *

When Junior got to the fairgrounds, Stephan was sitting on the tailgate of an unfamiliar yellow truck with a tall, athletic-looking boy whose bronze hair was slightly spiked up. Stephan waved and got to his feet as Junior drew near. "Hey, there." He smiled.

"Hey." She smiled back and looked at the tall boy. "So..."

"Oh, uh, this is Hunter." Stephan smiled at him. "And Hunter, this is Junior."

Hunter grinned. "Nice to meet you."

Junior blinked, surprised by Hunter's accent or rather his lack of accent. "Where are you from?"

"California. San Francisco."

"Oh, wow."

Hunter hopped out of the bed of the truck. He was _very_ tall. "So, do you think we should hit the go karts or the arcade first?"

Junior and Stephan answered in unison. "Go karts!"

"Sounds good." Hunter poked Stephabn's shoulder. "You're buying me lunch if I win."

"Oh, I don't think so."

Junior couldn't help but laugh.

All day, Junior found herself noticing little hints that Stephan and Hunter were more than friends. They were all very small things—a little too long of a glance, a little too bright of a smile, a little too soft of a touch—things Junior wasn't sure she'd have noticed if she didn't already know. But noticed or not, they were there and someone _could_ notice them. Junior realized that things were probably the same with her father and Jack; no matter how careful they were, there'd still be little things they couldn't help. And that's what her father was scared of.

Hunter waved a hand in front of Junior's face. "Earth to Junior?"

She blinked. "Huh?"

"You have been sitting there with your straw in your mouth, not drinking for a full three minutes." He tapped the face of his watch. "I counted."

"Oh, sorry." She quickly set her milkshake down. "Just thinking about stuff. Hey, where's Stephan?"

"Bathroom."

"Oh."

"Hey, listen." Hunter dropped his voice to barely above a whisper. "Thank you. For being friends with him, for being cool about us, just everything. I mean, in California it's not _too_ hard to find understanding people, at least not in San Francisco—just walk to the Haight—but the farther you get from the city, well," he shrugged. It means a lot."

"Well, you're welcome."

**A/N: The Haight is how many people at least used to refer to the area surrounding the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco which borders on Castro street. Castro is the center of the city's so-called "gay village" and the nearby neighborhoods are home to many non-heteronormative individuals and former hippies.  
Thank you for reading this educational footnote.**


	24. Chapter 24

Bobby had taken the bus this time and asked not to be picked up. He wanted to have the walk from the bus station to brace himself. His first visit had been awkward and he was dreading the week ahead of him. He had tried to avoid coming but his mother had insisted. Warily he made his way down the gravel driveway. He stopped in the yard in front of the house. His father's truck wasn't there. Concerned, he looked around.

Just then, Ennis came around the corner of the house and stopped. "Oh, hey."

"Where's my dad?" Bobby shifted the strap of his dufflebag on his shoulder.

"Post office."

"Right, well, uh, I'll just put my stuff inside."

Ennis nodded and Bobby ducked inside. The house made Bobby uncomfortable. It was full of evidence of his father's living with Ennis; the two jackets hanging on pegs by the door were the worst. Bobby went upstairs and dropped his bag in the room his grandmother had stayed in the last time he was there. He was about to go back downstairs when the slightly open door at the end of the hall caught his attention and filled him with sick curiosity. He hesitated then went into the bedroom. The bed was rumpled and unmade, the closet door was half open, revealing a discombobulated mess of shirts and jeans inside, and there was a loose pile of laundry in the corner of the room. Bobby grimaced, wondering what had driven him into the room. He quickly turned himself around, went back downstairs, then outside. Without anything else to do, he headed down to the stable where he was greeted by a skinny tortoiseshell cat. He picked her up and leaned against the wall. Ennis appeared in the doorway at the far end of the stable having just led a horse out to pasture. Upon seeing Bobby he paused, walked the length of the stable, leaned on the wall across from him, and sighed.

Bobby held the cat closer to his chest and petted her. "I'm just gonna say what we're both thinkin': This is awkward. We don't like each other an'—"

Ennis interrupted him. "I like you just fine; it's your attitude I've got an issue with."

Bobby fell silent, petting the purring cat. A moment passed. "She got a name?"

"Honey."

With a half amused snort, Bobby gave Ennis a disbelieving look. "Honey?"

Ennis shrugged. "Jack found her; he named her." He pushed off from the wall and went into the stall of a heavily pregnant chestnut mare.

Bobby went and stood just outside the stall's half door. "When's he gonna get back?"

"Dunno. Depends on how long everything takes at the post office."

"What's he at the post office for?"

"Mail."

"No, really? I never would have guessed." Ennis glared at Bobby and he shrank. "Sorry."

"He's mailin' something and buyin' stamps."

Honey clambered halfway onto Bobby's shoulder.

"What are you guys doin' for money, anyway?"

"Well, for one thing this place had a buncha chickens when we bought it and there's a weekly market in town so we make some money off a that. We're both working odd jobs from time to time, favors for neighbors, stuff like that."

"So how much are you making?"

"Enough to live on. I don't know details, I'm no good with finances an' stuff so your dad takes care of all that. He had some saved up, anyway, an' when he, uh, moved back from Texas he got some from your grandfather so I know we can't be too broke."

"Sounds like you're just mooching off of him." Honey jumped out of Bobby's arms.

"He's just about always had more money than me." Ennis was very quiet. Bobby didn't know what name to put to the feeling in Ennis's voice or how to respond.

Ennis went into another stall, put a bridle on the dun stallion and started to lead it out. Bobby followed wordlessly. After another couple trips back and forth, Bobby leaned on the fence while Ennis frowned at the latch on the gate. "So why do you live with my dad?"

Ennis picked a stone out of the latch and straightened up. "I know from experience I'm miserable livin' without him."

"Are you aware of how cheesy that sounds?"

"Painfully."

Bobby kicked a rock. "I just don't get it."

"Truth be told, neither do I." He took a breath and let it out. "When I met Jack, we were both nineteen—still just stupid kids but we thought we were grown up. I was engaged to the prettiest girl I thought I was ever gonna meet, wedding date set an' everything. Sayin' I never thought things'd turn out like they did hardly covers it. I pretty much never thought about things turning out like that for anybody. And then," he shrugged, "that's how things went. Nothin' to be done about it, no goin' back. Believe me I tried."

Bobby was quiet. "How did you meet him?"

Ennis explained about working for Aguirre. "Partway through the summer your father's good sense went to hell and took mine with it."

"Was alcohol involved in that?"

"Yeah..."

"Remind me never to drink."

"Why do I feel like you already have?"

Bobby fumbled for a response but was rescued by the appearance of his father's truck. He and Ennis went to meet him. Ennis crossed his arms as Jack got out of his truck. "What in blazes took you so long?"

"There was a line. And," Jack grabbed a bag out of the bed of the truck and shoved it on Ennis, "I went to the grocery store. You can thank me later. And Bobby, I wasn't expecting you to be around 'til later this afternoon."

"Caught an earlier bus." Bobby scuffed his boot in the dirt.

"So you two been here alone together?" Jack's question was met with nodding. "My mama musta been prayin' else I can't explain that neither a you got black eyes."

"Jack."

"I'm joking. Mostly."

Later that evening, Bobby was downstairs with his father while Ennis showered.

"You know, I think, maybe, he might not be quite so bad."

Jack looked up. "Really?"

Bobby shrugged.

"Well, I'm glad you think so."

"Still think you're outta your mind."

Jack put an arm around his son. "You might be right about that."


	25. Chapter 25

"Hey, Mama? D'you think we could have fireworks for the Fourth?"

"Oh, Jenny, honey, I don't know, the homeowners' association really doesn't want anybody to have anything more than sparklers."

Lounging on the couch, Junior took a swig from her bottle of root beer. "I was gonna drive to Daddy's day after tomorrow and stay a couple days. They got plenty a room. I know they've got fireworks. Already bought 'em."

Jenny's eyes lit up. "Can I come?"

"He's your daddy too." Ignoring a sharp look from her mother, Junior set her bottle down. Jenny bounced excitedly on he knees where she was sitting on the floor.

Bill appeared in the doorway. He seemed to have heard the conversation from the hallway. "Aren't you at least going to ask if you can use your mother's car before making plans like that?"

"She uses it more than I do, Bill." Alma viciously smoothed a corner of a picture in the scrapbook she was working on. "I sure don't like her up and driving all that way often as she does, but it's not because I miss the car."

Jenny crossed her arms, not quite pouting. "You aren't gonna keep us from seein' our daddy for the holiday, are you? I mean, I haven't really seen him in months."

Bill looked to Alma, but she kept her eyes on her scrapbooking. "No, I suppose you're right. Go on, then."

The next morning, Junior shut herself in her room with the phone, dialed the Crowheart number. Her father picked up on the fifth ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, Daddy."

There was a pause. "Junior, what are you doin' callin' at seven in the morning?"

"Needed to talk to you, figured you'd actually be somewhere near a phone since 'bout now is when you seem to tend to have breakfast over there."

Ennis leaned on the wall. She had a point. "Well, what d'you need to talk about?"

"I'm drivin' up tomorrow, you know that. Well, Jenny's coming with me. Thought you'd like some advance warning."

"Oh." Ennis waved Jack over to listen in. "Thanks for the heads up."

Junior wound her fingers in the phone cord. "She's really excited to see you. It's been quite a while just 'cause a how things have been. She wants to see the ranch, the horses... She, uh, she wants to see Jack. Remembers havin' seen 'im that one time." She paused. "Twist, are you on the line?"

"Uh, I'm sharin' a phone with your father."

"Kinda wish I could see that." She rolled her eyes. "Probably good you're hearin' this. Anyway Daddy, I think you need to tell her too."

Ennis closed his eyes. "Don't want to but I think you're right."

It can probably wait 'til the fifth. Main reason she wanted to come at first was 'cause we can't have fireworks here in Riverton. So, I mean, she's fifteen, but she's not that stupid, she'd notice on her own eventually, but a day an' a half with the distraction of blowin' stuff up ought to be fine."

"Alright, well, thanks for callin'. See you tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye, Daddy. Bye, Jack."

"Bye, sweetheart."

Ennis hung up and sighed. "Jack kissed his cheek. "C'mon, Ennis, be glad yer gonna see her. Worry about the rest later."

Twenty six hours later, Junior and Jenny set out for Crowheart. They talked, sang along to the radio, and wound up stopping for gas in Morton about halfway there. In the convenience store at the gas station, Jenny found Fourth of July novelty cowboy hats on sale. They were covered in sequins, some of them were red, some were blue, and they all had a pattern of silver stars.

"Junior, I think I need them."

Junior looked at her sister, then at the hats, then in her wallet, then at the sale sign. They were half off, barely more than a dollar each. The clerk looked at the sisters rather oddly when they came to the counter with five of the hats.

When the girls got to the ranch around ten-thirty, Jack and Ennis were outside waiting for them. Jenny leapt out of the car and ran to her father, who swept her up into the air before setting her back on her feet.

"I missed you, Daddy."

"Missed you too, Little Darlin'."

While her sister continued to hug their father to an extent fitting how long they'd been apart, Junior walked over to Jack with two of the hats. "We bought presents." She grinned, put the red one of the hats she was holding on her own head, removed his hat and replaced it with a blue sparkly one.

He laughed and took his hat from her by the brim. "Why, thank you."

The girls settled into the room they'd be sharing, everyone had sandwiches for lunch, and Jenny was taken on a tour of the place. The chestnut mare had given birth the week before and it was hard to say who was more thrilled by the other, they bandy-legged foal or the girls.

As the sun set, Junior said, "Jenny, you gonna help me make dinner?"

"You cook here?" Jenny looked bemused.

"If I don't cook, we'll be having sandwiches again."

"Not tomorrow, though," Jack said, putting the sequined hat Ennis had just taken off back on him again for at least the dozenth time. "Gonna build a fire tomorrow and I can actually cook worth somethin' outside of a kitchen."

"No, you can't." Ennis removed the hat.

"Yes, I can. I said worth somethin', not worth much."

The girls both laughed,

That night, Junior and Jenny went to bed while the men were finishing a few evening chores—like laundry. Laying in her bed in the dark, Jenny spoke to her sister. "I'm so happy to see Daddy."

"I know. I know you missed him."

"And you're right, Jack is nice. And really funny."

"I've told you." Junior chuckled.

"And the horses. I _love_ the horses. Remind me all their names?"

"The baby is Springer. His mama is Lady. The paint is Frida. The Dun is Diego. The white one—sorry, no, she's not actually white, she just looks white; Jack says she's actually gray—anyway, her name is Blizzard. The silver dapple is Chessman. The Arabian is Velvet. And the cremello is Princely."

"I like Frida."

"She's sweet. But, go to sleep."

"Alright, alright." Jenny giggled and rolled over.

* * *

**A/N: I've got up with today's date! Also, I have a red one of the hats described; it was at a local drug store. **


	26. Chapter 26

When Jack and Ennis returned from their first-light chores the next morning, they found the girls—having not so much a food fight as a food wrestling match—trying to shove fresh made toast into each other's mouths. They paused guiltily when the men came in but when no reproachment came, they continued squealing and laughing on the kitchen floor as Jack and Ennis leaned on the counter, watching and eating.

"Safe to say they don't do this at their mama's?"

Ennis nodded.

Later in the morning, not long before lunch, Bobby arrived and promptly had a sequined hat shoved on his head by Junior. He gave her a look. Wearing his own novelty hat, Ennis said, "Just give in. They will not let you take it off."

"They?"

"My, my sister, and your daddy." Junior flicked a finger against the brim of her hat.

Bobby blinked. "Your sister is here."

"Yeah, Jenny." She glanced around and continued quietly. "Stuff hasn't been told to her yet, so shush."

"Right."

After a lunch of instant ramen, the kids were set to work running around gathering sticks with which to build a fire while Jack and Ennis dealt with the horses and the chickens and the cat. Later in the afternoon, once the fire had been built but not lit, Jack brought a box of fireworks up from the basement. "Alright, this is going to stay all the way over here"—he set the box down roughly thirty feet from the pile of wood—"and is not going to get any closer to the fire." He tossed a tube of sparklers to his son, who grinned.

As the sun set, the kids were already chasing each other around with sparklers, stopping occasionally to pick up knocked off hats. The fire was lit, bacon and hot dogs were set to cook. Jenny grabbed her father's arm. "Can we light the fireworks now?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Way aheada ya." Jack had walked a ways away. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and set off a firework that screeched into the air and exploded in a shower of red sparks.

Jenny squealed with delight, Bobby whooped, Junior laughed, and Ennis ate a hot dog, quietly pleased.  
After a couple more had been set off, the lighter was passed to Bobby to light the Roman candles and lanterns from the box—one or two at a time. Junior even managed to get a hold of the lighter long enough to ignite a strand of firecrackers.

Once the meat had all been eaten, a bag of marshmallows was brought out along with some unbent wire coat hangers.

"Hey, can you pass me that?" Jenny pointed to a tube of sparklers. Jack handed it to her. She took out four, stuck their wire handled in the ground so the tips were all together like a teepee, lit them, and held her marshmallow over them.

Ennis looked at her little set up. "What are you doing?"

"Roasting a marshmallow more interestingly."

"Is that safe?"

She shrugged. "None of the warning labels say these things are toxic."

Ennis look at Jack; they both shrugged. Before long, everyone had sparkler-roasted at least one marshmallow. Ennis had even lit a cigaret with a sparkler, which turned out to be much more difficult than one would expect.

When everyone finally went inside for the night, no one bothered to look at a clock. It was late and that was as much as they needed to know. The kids all went straight to bed. Jack and Ennis each showered then fell into bed together. Jack rolled over and kissed Ennis. "Happy Independence Day."

Ennis ran a hand through Jack's hair and kissed him back. "You too."


End file.
